| Explore | All plant have certain conditions that they will grow best in. These conditions are varying amounts of sunlight, water, CO2, temperature, and organic materials. The conditions discovered with basic google research are: gentle watering, a low soil temperature, fair amount of sunlight, a soil PH of 6.5 to 6.8. We also know that this plant can not be surrounded by herbivores because the herbivores will eat the Arugula. Like most plants, Arugula will benefit from compost and fertilizer (organic materials). The topic that interest us is: if we increase the surrounding CO2 concentration, will the plants grow larger, faster? |
|---|---|
| Research Question | Will increasing the factors of photosynthesis increase the production of Arugula? Is there a "cap" to the rate of photosynthesis? What we mean by this is, can the Arugula plant only take in so much of each variable before the growth is no longer effected by the increasing amounts? OR will the growth be negatively effected by providing an over abundance of these materials? We know that these materials are needed for photosynthesis; however, we are not sure if there is a maximum production rate that arugula can obtain. |
| Predictions | One possible outcome could be the arugula's growth being positively impacted by the increasing amount of materials. This means, that is we increase light energy, CO2 and water concentrations the growth of the arugula will be more productive versus the samples with lower concentrations of these variables. Another possible outcome could be, we increase the amounts of light energy, C02, and water, but the Arugula will reach a point where the over abundance of these materials will either have no effect on the increase of growth, or it will have a negative effect on growth. |
| Experimental Design | We are going to have one pot with the recommended amount of water and light energy to grow arugula (C02 level will be normal to the atmosphere; this will be our control group). We will then increase the amount of each of these variables to see the effects on photosynthesis. We did this by stiring in an Alka-Seltzer into the soil. After adding water, we closed closed the "pot" in order to keep the C02 concentration constant. We will also have one other group that has limited amounts of CO2, water, and light energy. Total, we have 3 groups (one with lower amounts than recommended, a control group, and one group with higher amounts of photosynthesis products). We are observing the combinations as a whole, and seeing which one produces the most photosynthesis; which will be determined by measuring biomass and true leaf length. Notes: 10 Seeds in each pot |
| Conclusion | |
| Investigation Theme | WOS |
| Grade Level | Undergraduate Students |
| School Name | Wright State University |
| Session | Fall 2017 |